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A quenelle () is a mixture of creamed

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding, formed into an egg-like shape, and then cooked. The usual preparation is by poaching. Formerly, quenelles were often used as a garnish in haute cuisine. Today, they are more commonly served sauced as a dish in their own right. Similar items are found in many cuisines. By extension, a quenelle may also be another food made into a similar shape, such as

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

, sorbet, or mashed potato quenelles.

Etymology

The word quenelle is attested from 1750. The commonly accepted etymology is that it derives from the German ''

Knödel Knödel (; and ) or Klöße (; ) are boiled dumplings commonly found in Central European and East European cuisine. Central European countries in which their variant of ''Knödel'' is popular include Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, ...

'' ( noodle or

dumpling Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fi ...

).; ''Petit Robert'', 1972;

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

, Draft Revision, Dec. 2007; the old '' Larousse Gastronomique'', however, reports that some writers trace it to an Old English word ''knyll'', while Dietrich Behrens in'' Über deutsches Sprachgut im Französischen'', ''Giessener Beiträge zur romanischen Philologie'' Vol. 1 (1923), proffers dialectical German ''Knollen'' or ''Knöllen'', meaning "ball", as a possible origin.

''Quenelles de brochet''

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

and Nantua are famous for their ''quenelles de brochet'' (

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

quenelles), often served with

sauce Nantua Nantua sauce (French: ''Sauce Nantua'') is a classical French sauce consisting of: *a Béchamel sauce base *cream * crayfish butter *crayfish tails It is named for the city of Nantua, which is known for its crayfish, and the term ''à la Nantua' ...

(crayfish sauce) or ''sauce mousseline'' (cream sauce) and run under a grill. The classic dish of ''quenelles de brochet Nantua'' or simply ''quenelles Nantua'' consists of pike quenelles with sauce Nantua, both pike and crayfish being specialties of the Nantua area. Pike quenelles were invented by a chef named Bontemps to deal with the pike's "multitude of long, fine, forked bones". ''Quenelles de brochet'' are prepared many ways, but most recipes first prepare a panade, essentially a thick white sauce, then combine the panade with fish, and put the mixture through a sieve such as a

tamis A tamis (pronounced "tammy", also known as a drum sieve, or chalni in Indian cooking) is a kitchen utensil, shaped somewhat like a snare drum, that acts as a strainer, grater, or food mill. A tamis has a cylindrical edge, made of metal or wo ...

, yielding a forcemeat. The quenelles are shaped from the forcemeat and then poached. They may be served sauced and grilled, or with a variety of sauces.Ann Pringle Harries, "Fare of the Country: Delicate Pike Quenelles, a Lyons Tradition", ''New York Times'', 4 August 199

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References

Garde manger Cuisine of Lyon French cuisine Fish dishes Culinary terminology {{France-cuisine-stub

Etymology

''Quenelles de brochet''

See also

References